Jagdeo: ‘No PPP Minister is on any sanctions list or to be sanctioned’

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has slammed reports that members of the party are expected to be sanctioned by the United States government.

Responding to a question posed by a reporter at his weekly press briefing at State House on Thursday, Dr. Jagdeo refuted the claims while explaining the severity of the sanctions imposed against the Mohameds.

“It’s a lie. No PPP Minister is on any sanctions list or to be sanctioned,” he stated.

Dr. Jagdeo went on to discuss how persons, including candidates on Azruddin Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party list, are currently being affected due to their association with a sanctioned individual.

A number of candidates have lost their bank accounts in recent weeks due to their association.

“He misled a lot of people, now we’re seeing what’s happening with all of these people who are on his candidate list because they’re part of a formal organisation headed by a sanctioned individual,” he noted.

“Now I see them trying to switch again saying it’s the PPP who’s telling these banks to sanction them,” Dr. Jagdeo added.

He urged the public to thoroughly read the sanctioned document issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for the Mohameds to understand the implications.

“Financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action,” Dr. Jagdeo quoted from the document.

He added that if banks in the United States don’t do due diligence as it relates to sanctioned individuals and their associates, they can eventually be fined or lose their licences.

“Those banks have to have relationships with local banks, through a correspondent banking relationship. So if the local banks start doing business with the sanctioned individuals or those associated with them, they have implications,” he explained.